I am having a rather odd issue and I was hoping someone could help me out.
First some back story:
Running a generic Prusa i3 with Simplify3D over USB. Last week, I had my Chinese Arduino Mega stop working for NO reason whatsoever so I decided to stick to the safe side and use a brand new original Mega and RAMPS 1.4. Uploaded the exact same firmware and everything. The Chinese Mega was not giving me this issue however I cannot narrow it down to the new Mega.

The issue that I am having is that the printer randomly stops printing. It literally stops movement however all heaters remain on. S3D does NOT disconnect from the Arduino at all and I can continue the print as if nothing happened if I FORCE NEXT or Pause and then Resume the print. Like I said earlier, the points that it stops seem to be random and I cannot anticipate where it will stop. It does it with any file that I print and I have no idea why.

I am currently using S3D v4 however I DID try it on S3D v3.1.1; both on Windows 10; one without the last month's worth of updates and one with. Both are having the same issue.

I have tried different USB cables, reflashed the firmware, rolled back Windows updates, tried different baudrates, profiles and Processes. I have also reinstalled my Arduino drivers and tried using a fresh process.
I constantly monitor my prints using the Machine Control Panel in S3D and it is always on Verbose so that I can see if there are any issues and I have noticed that when the printer stops;the following pops up:

Now I have spoken to a friend of mine who works with these kinds of things and he said that the random k¢é characters are a result of interference. I changed the USB cable and plugged it into a different USB port and it changed nothing. I am not running any other serial devices on my PC either. I have also tried bypassing the USB extension that connects to the Arduino. I have tried using Repetier Host as well; with the same results.

Now I wouldn't mind if the printer randomly stopped for no reason and the prints still turned out fine; but the thing is that the filament oozes out of the nozzle and then creates these horrid zits on the side of the print that I struggle to get off.

It looks like that nobody has a solution but definitely it is a communication problem between S3D and windows 10.

Myself I have try different things and it still happens randomly. I have even buy a new laptop only for this. It still does it. Tried usb2 and usb3. The same.
Dissable the antivirus. - no change.

The most interesting is that if I change the communication in the firmware communication tab to "Software Flow Control (XON/XOFF) it does it less frequent but also it looses the ability to automatically reconnect after an emergency stop: you have to pull the usb cable of the printer and connect it again in order for S3D connect to the printer.

I had this exact issue when I first installed Windows 10....which was quite early on in the first year of general availability....and I switched to SD card printing.

I know it took a while for Microsoft to admit there was an issue and I never followed up whether there was a fix or not. I got a second printer and SD card use became the norm for me as the second printer was located remote from my PC.

It happens with Windows 10 only. I just changed to another computer with Windows 7 and prints the all day without any problem at all.
The point is that in a years time you will not be able to find any new computer with windows 7 so this one has to be sort it out.

georgei wrote:It happens with Windows 10 only. I just changed to another computer with Windows 7 and prints the all day without any problem at all.
The point is that in a years time you will not be able to find any new computer with windows 7 so this one has to be sort it out.

Actually I have almost the same issue but on windows 7 ultimate. I get random pauses for up to 2 seconds then it carries on printing on it's own but in the process it leaves a blob where it paused. I'm running an Extreme I7 12 core processor so I know it's not due to resources. This has only happened since upgrading to S3Dv4, never had that issue in v3.xx.

Disabling anti-virus is not an option as S3D REQUIRES an internet connection to verify your account before it will load which really sucks because I would rather have S3D running on my non-internet connected pc that runs all my other cnc stuff, which has minimal services running and no antivirus. AND if the internet goes down for whatever reason, and S3D was not started, then I can't print until the internet is back up. A construction crew broke through a buried fiber line 3 hours west of me and I was without internet AND without printing for just shy of 2 full days while it was repaired.

It show's to go you how feelish you fool when your tang is all tungled up and you bart stalking tackwards!

Now that am doing larger prints with this software I am seeing this too. Since I am doing color changes I am doing the color swap outs using the software printer controls. So I need the USB tethering. The other problem with the pausing is the loss of pressure and then when it starts up you basically have small voids. I don't remember ever seeing this with the other free software I have used.

I have the same problem on my Win10 Box with a USB connected Anycubic i3 Mega. I can follow the explanations so far, but have printed hundred prints with Cura without an issue; so I honestly cannot follow the explanation that it's a Windows issue.

Have connected my 3D printer via Network2USB Silex device that works well with all USB devices so far - even a Webcam.

I understand that there is no solution atm; however, since I just bought the software today, I might think about returning it...

Just wanted to let you guys know, that there's another one with that problem.

I have the same problems with random stops fpr 0.5 to 2sec also since 4.0. never ever happened before that. and my computer is dedicated to printning. and has not been updated with anything special in 4 years.

georgei wrote:It happens with Windows 10 only. I just changed to another computer with Windows 7 and prints the all day without any problem at all.
The point is that in a years time you will not be able to find any new computer with windows 7 so this one has to be sort it out.

Actually I have almost the same issue but on windows 7 ultimate. I get random pauses for up to 2 seconds then it carries on printing on it's own but in the process it leaves a blob where it paused. I'm running an Extreme I7 12 core processor so I know it's not due to resources. This has only happened since upgrading to S3Dv4, never had that issue in v3.xx.

Disabling anti-virus is not an option as S3D REQUIRES an internet connection to verify your account before it will load which really sucks because I would rather have S3D running on my non-internet connected pc that runs all my other cnc stuff, which has minimal services running and no antivirus. AND if the internet goes down for whatever reason, and S3D was not started, then I can't print until the internet is back up. A construction crew broke through a buried fiber line 3 hours west of me and I was without internet AND without printing for just shy of 2 full days while it was repaired.